U.S. patent application number 13/916482 was filed with the patent office on 2014-12-18 for opportunity cards in websites.
The applicant listed for this patent is Microsoft Corporation. Invention is credited to Colleen Griffiths Estrada, Craig A. Jensen, James Lewallen, Todd D. Newman, William L. Portnoy, Jennifer Lauren Rodenhouse, Richard Zaragoza.
Application Number | 20140372864 13/916482 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 52020373 |
Filed Date | 2014-12-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140372864 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Zaragoza; Richard ; et
al. |
December 18, 2014 |
OPPORTUNITY CARDS IN WEBSITES
Abstract
Aspects of the subject disclosure are directed towards
opportunity cards that provide a user with straightforward access
to other content of a website that may be interesting to a user, as
well as other information and recommendations. Opportunity cards
are generated for a user based upon user profile data, and may
recommend and provide links to other website content that the user
is likely to be interested in and/or has likely not already seen.
The opportunity cards may be presented in conjunction with the
content, such as inline, interspersed among a stream of posts of
content.
Inventors: |
Zaragoza; Richard;
(Issaquah, WA) ; Estrada; Colleen Griffiths;
(Bellevue, WA) ; Rodenhouse; Jennifer Lauren;
(Seattle, WA) ; Lewallen; James; (Fall City,
WA) ; Newman; Todd D.; (Mercer Island, WA) ;
Jensen; Craig A.; (Sammamish, WA) ; Portnoy; William
L.; (Woodinville, WA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Microsoft Corporation |
Redmond |
WA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
52020373 |
Appl. No.: |
13/916482 |
Filed: |
June 12, 2013 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/234 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/9535
20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/234 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/22 20060101
G06F017/22 |
Claims
1. A machine-implemented method comprising, generating opportunity
cards for a user, including searching for content or information,
or both, related to a website, filtering the opportunity cards into
a subset of opportunity cards that the user is likely to be
interested in, and outputting one or more of the opportunity cards
from the subset for viewing by the user.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the opportunity cards
for the user comprises accessing user profile information and
basing at least some of the opportunity cards on the user profile
information.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the opportunity cards
for the user comprises basing at least some of the opportunity
cards on at least one of: other user interests, other user
behavior, a trending topic, or one or more popular users.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the one or more of the
opportunity cards comprises mixing the one or more opportunity
cards with content displayed during interaction with the
website.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the content comprises a linear
feed of posts, and wherein mixing the one or more opportunity cards
with the content comprises interspersing at least one opportunity
card into the linear feed of posts.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, selecting opportunity
cards from the subset based upon weighted random distribution.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, selecting at least one
opportunity card from the subset based upon the user's current or
recent activity or behavior.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the opportunity cards
comprises providing at least one interactive element within an
opportunity card.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the opportunity cards
comprises providing a plurality of interactive elements
corresponding to action options within at least some of the
opportunity cards.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein providing the plurality of
interactive elements corresponding to action options comprises
providing an interactive button on an opportunity card, which if
selected, adds content associated with the opportunity card to a
stream of content being viewed by the user.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising, dynamically
generating a stream of content for interactive viewing by the user,
and wherein generating the opportunity cards is based upon the
stream of content.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the opportunity cards
comprises generating an opportunity card that provides an
interactive element corresponding to a user, or generating an
opportunity card that provides an interactive element corresponding
to a collection, or both generating an opportunity card that
provides an interactive element corresponding to a user and an
interactive element corresponding to a collection.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein filtering the opportunity cards
into the subset comprises determining whether to include an
opportunity card based upon time data associated with a collection
of content, or based upon a number of additions to a collection of
content, or based upon both time data associated with a collection
of content and based upon a number of additions to the collection
of content.
14. A system comprising, a website including a plurality of web
servers coupled to a data store that includes content and user
profile data, the website including an opportunity card generation
and selection mechanism configured to request a search of the
content based upon the user profile data for a user and generate
opportunity cards for the user based upon results of the search,
and select opportunity cards to present to the user in conjunction
with other rendered content.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein the opportunity card generation
and selection mechanism selects an opportunity card based upon a
collection of content that has been created within a certain
timeframe, and the collection is one that the user is not already
following.
16. The system of claim 14 wherein the opportunity card generation
and selection mechanism selects an opportunity card based upon
activity in a collection of content that the user follows, in which
the activity occurred within a certain timeframe.
17. The system of claim 14 wherein the opportunity card generation
and selection mechanism selects an opportunity card based upon
popularity of a collection of content or popularity of a
contributor to a collection of content.
18. The system of claim 14 wherein the opportunity card generation
and selection mechanism selects an opportunity card based upon a
friend relationship with another person.
19. The system of claim 14 wherein the opportunity card generation
and selection mechanism selects an opportunity card to provide
information corresponding to a website feature or to recommend an
action to a user to take to provide input.
20. One or more computer-readable storage media or logic having
computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform
steps, comprising, generating opportunity cards to present to a
user interacting with a website, in which the opportunity cards
relate to other content in the website, and in which at least some
of the opportunity cards provide links to the other content,
presenting one or more of the opportunity cards inline with a
stream of content presented to the user, and taking an action based
upon user interaction with an opportunity card.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] Websites often contain a significant amount of content. For
example, websites corresponding to social networks are typically
built around a vast feed of content that serves as the primary
experience for most users. In interest networks (which include
standard forum sites), the sites tend to be divided into interests
or topical message boards. Such divisions encourage `siloed`
consumption and engagement with the content, and hinder discovery
of additional content and/or people of interest.
[0002] Most users do not interact with much of the content that
they might otherwise find interesting. For example, many websites
are arranged as a single linear (e.g., in one or more columns) feed
of posts, which does not help a user discover other facets of the
network. Indeed, many people typically browse the first feed they
see (often the "everyone" or "everything" feed). As a result, it is
very possible that a user will never discover the rich content that
the rest of the site has to offer.
[0003] Because users tend to stay in the first feed they find and
not explore the rest of the site, they may also fail to find other
areas of the site that otherwise would be interesting to them, or
areas that would allow them to customize or enrich their experience
in the primary feed. For example, forms in which users describe
their areas of interests (or non-interest) may be located on a
settings page that many users fail to find.
[0004] Some sites have separate static sections or headers that
present the most globally popular sections on the site. A "hub" may
be provided to guide site navigation. While useful, such solutions
still suffer from requiring explicit, somewhat exploratory
navigation by the user in order to engage with these other
sections.
SUMMARY
[0005] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of
representative concepts in a simplified form that are further
described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not
intended to identify key features or essential features of the
claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in any way
that would limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0006] Briefly, various aspects of the subject matter described
herein are directed towards outputting (e.g., presenting)
opportunity cards to a user based upon the user's profile data, in
which the opportunity cards provide a mechanism for the user to
access other website content that is likely of interest to the user
and/or receive information or an action to take regarding the
website that is likely of interest to the user. One or more aspects
are directed towards generating opportunity cards for a user based
upon user-profile information, including searching for content
and/or information related to a website. A set of opportunity cards
may be generated based on a user's interests. The opportunity cards
are filtered into a subset of opportunity cards that the user is
likely to be interested in, and one or more of the opportunity
cards are output from the subset for viewing by the user.
Opportunity cards also may be created in the absence of (or in
addition to) specific user information, based upon, for example,
averaged or otherwise combined user interests, other users'
behavior, trending topics, or popular users.
[0007] In one or more aspects, a website including a plurality of
web servers is coupled to a data store that includes content and
user profile data, in which the website includes an opportunity
card generation and selection mechanism (e.g., algorithm). The
opportunity card generation and selection mechanism is configured
to request a search the content based upon the user profile data
for a user and/or information about other (e.g., typical) users,
and to generate opportunity cards for the user based upon results
of the search. The mechanism selects opportunity cards to present
to the user in conjunction with other rendered content.
[0008] One or more aspects are directed towards generating
opportunity cards to present to a user from a website, in which the
opportunity cards relate to other content in the website, and in
which at least some of the opportunity cards provide links to the
other content. One or more of the opportunity cards may be
presented inline with a stream of content presented to the user,
with an action taken based upon user interaction with an
opportunity card.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and
not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference
numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing example components
for providing opportunity cards from website content based upon
user profile data, according to one or more example
implementations.
[0011] FIG. 2 is a representation of how an opportunity card may be
interspersed within a stream of content (e.g., posts) presented to
a user, according to one or more example implementations.
[0012] FIG. 3 is a representation of how an opportunity card may be
presented on a page of content (e.g., posts) presented to a user,
according to one or more example implementations.
[0013] FIG. 4 is a representation of opportunity cards and
interactive elements thereon, according to one or more example
implementations.
[0014] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram representing example steps that may
be taken to generate and select opportunity cards, according to one
or more example implementations.
[0015] FIG. 6 is a block diagram representing example non-limiting
networked environments in which various embodiments described
herein can be implemented.
[0016] FIG. 7 is a block diagram representing an example
non-limiting computing system or operating environment in which one
or more aspects of various embodiments described herein can be
implemented.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] Various aspects of the technology described herein are
generally directed towards generating and outputting opportunity
cards (or simply "opportunities"), comprising one or more selected
links and/or informational notifications related to a website. The
opportunity cards may be generated based upon a user's profile, and
may be output/presented in various ways, including interspersed
inline among a stream of posts or otherwise associated with a
stream of posts.
[0018] Opportunity cards may be generated for dynamically generated
streams (e.g. related posts to a single post or searched by topic
of interest) as well as existing, static streams. For example, a
user may provide profile data that causes a stream to be
dynamically generated when the user initially logs on, and/or a
user may interact to select or search during a session, such as
with respect to a topic of interest, and have a stream dynamically
generated based upon the search results. Opportunity cards may be
generated and/or selected for such streams.
[0019] More particularly, in one or more implementations, in
addition to an "everyone" feed, the website system has the
capability of dynamically generating feeds of posts. For example,
given an interesting post in the everyone feed, a user can click
that post to explore a series of related posts. Within that
dynamically generated related post feed, the system may generate
"opportunity cards" that enumerate some of the people, collections
of interests, and/or activities that the system thinks the user
will find the most interesting. These opportunity cards may be
mixed in with the feed of posts, integrating naturally with the
flow of browsing the site's content, and allowing the user to take
action on these opportunities as part of their browsing and
consuming experience. In addition, these opportunity cards provide
links to explore the results of queries representing segments of
the site's content that have been dynamically curated, rather than
provided by users.
[0020] In general, opportunity cards may suggest and provide
straightforward access to content or content sources (e.g., other
users) to help users increase their engagement in a community,
improve connections (e.g., expand social graphs), and discover
additional content of interest (e.g., collections), without
dedicated hubs, for example. Via opportunity cards, a user may see
feeds of content generated dynamically for deeper exploration of a
user's interest, and/or may be offered guidance based on past
interactions with the site, new features of the site, and so
on.
[0021] It should be understood that any of the examples herein are
non-limiting. For example, opportunity cards may be presented with
site content, however the technology described herein is not
limited to such presentation. For example, an opportunity card may
be emailed and/or output via a notification sent to a device,
possibly not the same device that the user typically uses to access
the site with which the opportunity card is associated. As such,
the present invention is not limited to any particular embodiments,
aspects, concepts, structures, functionalities or examples
described herein. Rather, any of the embodiments, aspects,
concepts, structures, functionalities or examples described herein
are non-limiting, and the present invention may be used various
ways that provide benefits and advantages in computing, networking
and providing content in general.
[0022] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing example components by
which opportunity cards may be generated and output in conjunction
with other content. In general, a user interacts (block 102) with a
set of web servers 104 to view content selected from the site's
available content 106 in a data store 108. Users may log in,
whereby content tailored to that user may be selected based upon
user profile data 107. Note that the data store 108 shows the
content 106 logically separated from the user profile data 107,
however this is only for purposes of explanation, and the data
store 108 may be organized in different ways.
[0023] As one example, a user who has registered an interest in
classic cars may initially see posts related to classic cars. The
user receives an interactive web page 110 containing the selected
content. For example, the selected content may be arranged as a
plurality of posts, arranged in time order, through which the user
can scroll. In general, posts comprise images and accompanying
text, possibly including comments, assembled and uploaded by
various contributors to the website. For purposes of explanation
herein, posts are used in the examples, however it is understood
that opportunity cards are not limited to content in the form of
posts.
[0024] As described herein, the interactive web page 110 includes
one or more opportunity cards 112 that are generated for the user
based upon the user profile data. Unlike conventional content, the
opportunity cards are automatically generated and selected (block
114) for the user to provide information related to enhancing the
user's experience with the site.
[0025] By way of example, an opportunity card may be generated to
inform a user that a new collection (e.g., of posts) has been added
to the site, providing the user with an opportunity to interact
with the new collection. Such an opportunity card may be selected
for the user based upon other topics in which the user is
interested, e.g., "cats," which may be determined by keyword
matching other such techniques. Another opportunity card presented
to a user may be based upon a person that the user follows, e.g., a
friend, or a friend of a friend, (e.g., "Joe added a new
collection" or "Jane added content to a collection"). Another
opportunity card may be generated from keywords, current interests
or activities of the user and so on, e.g., the user may be offered
similar content to some content the user is currently following. An
opportunity card need not be related to content or people, but
instead may be informational, e.g., to inform the user of some new
feature or change to the site that the user otherwise may not
see.
[0026] As generally represented in FIG. 2, in one implementation,
opportunity card (e.g., opportunity card 220) may comprise items
rendered (e.g., interspersed) in a stream of posts 222(1)-222(k)
(of which posts or partial posts 222(1)-222(8) are shown). The
interspersing may be random, pseudo-random, at a regular interval,
based upon page layout, and so on; in one implementation
opportunity cards are distributed regularly or somewhat regularly
around every ten-to-twenty posts.
[0027] The opportunity cards may generally look like other posts,
or may be intentionally designed to be visually different in some
way from other posts to easily differentiate (e.g., call attention
to) them. An opportunity card may be rendered at the top of each
"virtual" page of results in a "posts" view that shows the posts.
Instead of (or in addition to) inline opportunity cards, as
represented in FIG. 3, one or more opportunity cards 330(1)-330(3)
may be in a different region 331 reserved for them, e.g., to the
upper right of a screen, and may not scroll with the page as posts
332(1)-332(k) are scrolled through
[0028] As represented in FIG. 4, an opportunity card may include
multiple types of opportunity actions within a single opportunity
card "post." For example, the opportunity cards 440(1)-440(3) in
FIG. 4 each have opportunity actions that the user can take, such
as in the form of clickable links that may be clicked, and possibly
hovered over. Such actions are represented in FIG. 4 by underlining
of text within the opportunity cards 440(1)-440(3), however it is
understood that instead of underlining, different colors, boldness,
font sizes and so on may be used to indicate to the user that an
opportunity may be selected. An image, if present in an opportunity
card, also may be clickable.
[0029] By way of example, "Jahan" in the text of the opportunity
card 440(1) may be a hoverable and clickable link. Clicking this
opportunity takes the user to content (e.g., posts) associated with
the user named Jahan. The user may also click "post" to see the
particular newly added post. The link "My Art Gallery" is clickable
and navigates to a corresponding collection named as such.
[0030] A user thus may elect to jump to the new content via an
opportunity action in an opportunity card. Alternatively, another
action that the user may take is to select "Follow" within the
opportunity card, whereby the user stays at the current set of
content (e.g., the current location in the stream) but has the
posts (e.g., the collection) identified in the opportunity card
added to the current stream for the user to scroll to when desired.
Note that in the opportunity card 440(2) the button 442 has changed
from "Follow" to "Following" to indicate that the user already
elected to follow that opportunity; although the button text in
FIG. 4 is shown as italics, it is understood that alternative ways
to help the user notice the state change, such as a grayed out
appearance of the button, may be used. A user may toggle the button
back to "Follow" and remove the associated posts from the stream in
one or more implementations.
[0031] To give users opportunity cards that are likely relevant to
the user while avoiding repetition, opportunity card options in one
implementation are chosen based on weighted random chance. There
are different types of opportunities, and each type of opportunity
may have a weight corresponding to a specific configurable
percentage chance that the type will be chosen. This chance can be
overridden or reweighted by detected user behavior; (e.g., a user
who has been interested in "hot dog" posts today may be given an
opportunity card asking the user whether he or she "would like to
follow the hot dog collection").
[0032] Opportunities can also be chosen based on implied data from
the user's recent behavior (the one being shown an opportunity). By
way of example, if a user buys a barbecue and starts interacting
with related content (as the user has just started that interest),
the system may create and highly prioritize an opportunity or set
of opportunities that directed the user to barbecue related posts,
users, and collections. In other words, this is "inferred" data
about the user profile based on behavior rather than "explicit"
data. Moreover, the behavior may be obtained from another source,
e.g., a shopping website may provide information about a recent
user purchase, which may then be used in generating an opportunity
card.
[0033] Thus, there are different types of opportunities, and each
may be weighted differently. The following table exemplifies some
possible types and rules and weights related thereto; it is
understood that the table entries are only examples, and that not
all exemplified types may be present in a given implementation,
and/or that other types may be added:
TABLE-US-00001 Impl. Speclet Order Scope Weighting "Social NW
Friends" 1 EVERYONE/ .1 Find your Social NW Friends: FEATURED
Invoke the Social NW friend finder (which may be rare)
"RecommendedCollection" 2 FOLLOWING/ .2 Recommended Collections:
EVERYONE USER's FRIENDS that have created a new COLLECTION in the
last 7 days that user is NOT already following Collection needs
> 3 posts "PostedToCollection" 3 FOLLOWING .2 Collection
Activity on a Collection user Follows: Someone has made a
contribution in the last 24 hrs to a collection user follows
"PostAddedToCollection" 4 EVERYONE/ .4 Collection to follow based
on FOLLOWING post activity: Top 100 popular Collections (by
Follower Count) filtered by items with a low ActivityRank Any
activity in that collection over the last 24 hours Minimum of 3
posts need to be added in time period "PopularPerson" 5 EVERYONE/
.4 People with lots of (e.g., recent) FEATURED followers who have
been recently active Minimum of 5 followers in last week
"RecommendedPerson" 6 FOLLOWING .1 People to Follow Recommendations
based on overlapping Interests + Following: FRIENDS of USER'S
FRIENDS where user and the FRIEND of FRIEND have PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
in common and user is NOT already FOLLOWING the friend of a friend
Recommended Collection that 7 FOLLOWING .3 user does not already
follow based on Interests & Profile Recommended Collection that
8 FOLLOWING .3 user does not already follow based on similarity to
another collection Collection based on user's own 9 FOLLOWING .3
activity (e.g., user liked 10 hot dog posts, how about a hot dog
interest collection)
[0034] As can be seen from the example table, some of the types
have rules that need to be met before an opportunity card will be
generated. For example, some of the rules include that any new
recommended collections need to be actually new (within the last
seven days) and not already followed by the user. A "collection"
needs to have at least three posts to be considered a collection.
Contributions to an existing, followed collection need to be
recent, e.g., made within the last 24 hours of the session; e.g., a
collection recommended because of popularity also needs to be
current, e.g., there may be many formerly popular collections
regarding the 2012 London Olympic games, but the popularity has
waned over time and thus such a collection is not current. Other
example rules may be seen in the table. It is understood that the
values (e.g., timeframes, number of posts, and so on) that a rule
evaluates are only examples, and that these values may be tweaked
and/or learned for a given implementation.
[0035] Each of the types has a weight that will be a factor in how
frequently that type of opportunity appears. The weights generally
attempt to bias the types to those a user is likely more interested
in seeing, while giving likely less interesting ones some
visibility. In one or more implementations, the user may configure
some of the weights per-user preferences, e.g., those that are not
globally weighted, with per-user weights maintained as part of the
user profile data, for example. It is understood that the above
table entries including the weights therein are only examples, and
that different values and the like may be used, e.g., learned
through user feedback, such as how often each type of opportunity
card is clicked.
[0036] Scoring of collections of interests may be done by an
activity rank measure. Opportunity card recommendations can be made
based on secondary shared attributes, such as tags on collections
of interests as well as intersections of user
behaviors/likes/shared interests/follows. Opportunity card
recommendations also may be based on things the user has not done
yet, such as adding personal information, selecting general areas
of interest, and/or providing contact information for other social
sites.
[0037] With respect to each opportunity card type, a selection
process attempts to prepare a variety of results that avoids
repetition of the same opportunities (suggestions) over and over
again to the user within a given session. A session may be
time-based, based upon login and logout, or some other criteria
(e.g., three logins and logouts). To avoid repetition, the
selection process may choose randomly within the set of values for
a given opportunity.
[0038] Note that each time a person adds a post to a collection, a
different opportunity card may be generated, e.g., "Jahan added a
post to the collection" (as in FIG. 4). However, if the person adds
posts multiple times, such as within a short timeframe, this may be
somewhat redundant, in that each such opportunity card refers to
the same thing, e.g., a notification of a new post that a user can
see all at once. Such otherwise separate opportunity cards may be
merged or "deduplicated" so that the user only receives one
opportunity card for the plurality of posts in the timeframe.
Alternatively, if the user accesses the collection via any one of
the related opportunity cards, any others generated before the
access time are no longer needed and may be removed from the subset
available to the user so that the user never sees them.
[0039] FIG. 5 summarizes some of the above concepts via example
steps of a flow diagram. To generate opportunity cards for a user
who logs in (step 502), one or more implementations use the user
profile data (step 504) and current site information to obtain
content for the user (step 506) and make statistics-based queries
over the content store for generating opportunity cards (step 508).
For example, searching may result in three hundred to five hundred
potential opportunity cards. Examples of such search criteria may
include what and who the user has previously followed, what and who
the user is currently following or viewing, interests of the user,
friends of the user, friends of friends, what is popular in the
site, what happened recently, and possibly external data (e.g.,
what is in the news), and so on. Note that opportunity cards are
per user, and thus are generally not cached for sharing among other
users, however certain ones (e.g., corresponding to global
popularity) may be shared among different users and thus cached
rather than dynamically generated on demand. Further, users may be
clustered in to groups by profile data, and at least some
opportunity cards may be shared among the cluster, for example,
rather than dynamically generated for each user.
[0040] Different algorithms may be used to search for the
opportunities/cards, such as for different search criteria and
different types of opportunities. As a result, there may be
duplicates. Duplicate detection, e.g., via a hash of the content or
part thereof may be used to eliminate duplicates (step 510). A
dictionary of {hash value, corresponding opportunity card content}
entries or the like may be maintained and access for this
purpose.
[0041] From this set of opportunities/cards, as represented via
steps 512 and 514, the process may filter the set (e.g., to
determine which fifty or so are the most appropriate for the user)
into a subset that may be ranked and/or ordered. This may be based
upon various filtering criteria, such as to recommend a new
collection from someone the user knows, recommend a collection in
an area of interest of the user, recommend a new user to the system
who the use knows otherwise (e.g., a friend on another social
network), follow a person who has common interests with the user,
follow a person whom a friend (or someone the user follows) has
just decided to follow, and so on.
[0042] From this reduced subset, at step 516 some number N (e.g.,
3) of opportunity cards may be selected and mixed into or otherwise
associated with the content for the user, e.g., interspersed into
the stream of posts a user is about to have rendered for viewing
(step 518). The subset is maintained so that more opportunity cards
are available as needed during the session, e.g., as represented by
step 520.
[0043] Note that opportunity cards need not be generated during a
session as in FIG. 5, but may be generated independent of a
session. Indeed, an opportunity may be generated at any time and
proactively sent as a notification to any user device, e.g.,
emailed to a user, sent by text or SMS message to a mobile device,
and so on.
[0044] As can be seen, opportunity cards provide a straightforward
natural way to increase connections among members and help users
discover topics of interest. Other benefits of opportunity cards
include a way to notify a user of a missed activity, and to
encourage activities that may increase the value of the site for
the user.
Example Networked and Distributed Environments
[0045] One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the
various embodiments and methods described herein can be implemented
in connection with any computer machine or other client or server
device, which can be deployed as part of a computer network or in a
distributed computing environment, and can be connected to any kind
of data store or stores. In this regard, the various embodiments
described herein can be implemented in any computer system or
environment having any number of memory or storage units, and any
number of applications and processes occurring across any number of
storage units. This includes, but is not limited to, an environment
with server computers and client computers deployed in a network
environment or a distributed computing environment, having remote
or local storage.
[0046] Distributed computing provides sharing of computer resources
and services by communicative exchange among computing devices and
systems. These resources and services include the exchange of
information, cache storage and disk storage for objects, such as
files. These resources and services also include the sharing of
processing power across multiple processing units for load
balancing, expansion of resources, specialization of processing,
and the like. Distributed computing takes advantage of network
connectivity, allowing clients to leverage their collective power
to benefit the entire enterprise. In this regard, a variety of
devices may have applications, objects or resources that may
participate in the resource management mechanisms as described for
various embodiments of the subject disclosure.
[0047] FIG. 6 provides a schematic diagram of an example networked
or distributed computing environment. The distributed computing
environment comprises computing objects 610, 612, etc., and
computing objects or devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc., which
may include programs, methods, data stores, programmable logic,
etc. as represented by example applications 630, 632, 634, 636,
638. It can be appreciated that computing objects 610, 612, etc.
and computing objects or devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc. may
comprise different devices, such as personal digital assistants
(PDAs), audio/video devices, mobile phones, MP3 players, personal
computers, laptops, etc.
[0048] Each computing object 610, 612, etc. and computing objects
or devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc. can communicate with one
or more other computing objects 610, 612, etc. and computing
objects or devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc. by way of the
communications network 640, either directly or indirectly. Even
though illustrated as a single element in FIG. 6, communications
network 640 may comprise other computing objects and computing
devices that provide services to the system of FIG. 6, and/or may
represent multiple interconnected networks, which are not shown.
Each computing object 610, 612, etc. or computing object or device
620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc. can also contain an application, such
as applications 630, 632, 634, 636, 638, that might make use of an
API, or other object, software, firmware and/or hardware, suitable
for communication with or implementation of the application
provided in accordance with various embodiments of the subject
disclosure.
[0049] There are a variety of systems, components, and network
configurations that support distributed computing environments. For
example, computing systems can be connected together by wired or
wireless systems, by local networks or widely distributed networks.
Currently, many networks are coupled to the Internet, which
provides an infrastructure for widely distributed computing and
encompasses many different networks, though any network
infrastructure can be used for example communications made incident
to the systems as described in various embodiments.
[0050] Thus, a host of network topologies and network
infrastructures, such as client/server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid
architectures, can be utilized. The "client" is a member of a class
or group that uses the services of another class or group to which
it is not related. A client can be a process, e.g., roughly a set
of instructions or tasks, that requests a service provided by
another program or process. The client process utilizes the
requested service without having to "know" any working details
about the other program or the service itself.
[0051] In a client/server architecture, particularly a networked
system, a client is usually a computer that accesses shared network
resources provided by another computer, e.g., a server. In the
illustration of FIG. 6, as a non-limiting example, computing
objects or devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc. can be thought of
as clients and computing objects 610, 612, etc. can be thought of
as servers where computing objects 610, 612, etc., acting as
servers provide data services, such as receiving data from client
computing objects or devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc., storing
of data, processing of data, transmitting data to client computing
objects or devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc., although any
computer can be considered a client, a server, or both, depending
on the circumstances.
[0052] A server is typically a remote computer system accessible
over a remote or local network, such as the Internet or wireless
network infrastructures. The client process may be active in a
first computer system, and the server process may be active in a
second computer system, communicating with one another over a
communications medium, thus providing distributed functionality and
allowing multiple clients to take advantage of the
information-gathering capabilities of the server.
[0053] In a network environment in which the communications network
640 or bus is the Internet, for example, the computing objects 610,
612, etc. can be Web servers with which other computing objects or
devices 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, etc. communicate via any of a
number of known protocols, such as the hypertext transfer protocol
(HTTP). Computing objects 610, 612, etc. acting as servers may also
serve as clients, e.g., computing objects or devices 620, 622, 624,
626, 628, etc., as may be characteristic of a distributed computing
environment.
Example Computing Device
[0054] As mentioned, advantageously, the techniques described
herein can be applied to any device. It can be understood,
therefore, that handheld, portable and other computing devices and
computing objects of all kinds are contemplated for use in
connection with the various embodiments. Accordingly, the below
general purpose remote computer described below in FIG. 7 is but
one example of a computing device.
[0055] Embodiments can partly be implemented via an operating
system, for use by a developer of services for a device or object,
and/or included within application software that operates to
perform one or more functional aspects of the various embodiments
described herein. Software may be described in the general context
of computer executable instructions, such as program modules, being
executed by one or more computers, such as client workstations,
servers or other devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate
that computer systems have a variety of configurations and
protocols that can be used to communicate data, and thus, no
particular configuration or protocol is considered limiting.
[0056] FIG. 7 thus illustrates an example of a suitable computing
system environment 700 in which one or aspects of the embodiments
described herein can be implemented, although as made clear above,
the computing system environment 700 is only one example of a
suitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest any
limitation as to scope of use or functionality. In addition, the
computing system environment 700 is not intended to be interpreted
as having any dependency relating to any one or combination of
components illustrated in the example computing system environment
700.
[0057] With reference to FIG. 7, an example remote device for
implementing one or more embodiments includes a general purpose
computing device in the form of a computer 710. Components of
computer 710 may include, but are not limited to, a processing unit
720, a system memory 730, and a system bus 722 that couples various
system components including the system memory to the processing
unit 720.
[0058] Computer 710 typically includes a variety of computer
readable media and can be any available media that can be accessed
by computer 710. The system memory 730 may include computer storage
media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as
read only memory (ROM) and/or random access memory (RAM). By way of
example, and not limitation, system memory 730 may also include an
operating system, application programs, other program modules, and
program data.
[0059] A user can enter commands and information into the computer
710 through input devices 740. A monitor or other type of display
device is also connected to the system bus 722 via an interface,
such as output interface 750. In addition to a monitor, computers
can also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers
and a printer, which may be connected through output interface
750.
[0060] The computer 710 may operate in a networked or distributed
environment using logical connections to one or more other remote
computers, such as remote computer 770. The remote computer 770 may
be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer
device or other common network node, or any other remote media
consumption or transmission device, and may include any or all of
the elements described above relative to the computer 710. The
logical connections depicted in FIG. 7 include a network 772, such
local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), but may also
include other networks/buses. Such networking environments are
commonplace in homes, offices, enterprise-wide computer networks,
intranets and the Internet.
[0061] As mentioned above, while example embodiments have been
described in connection with various computing devices and network
architectures, the underlying concepts may be applied to any
network system and any computing device or system in which it is
desirable to improve efficiency of resource usage.
[0062] Also, there are multiple ways to implement the same or
similar functionality, e.g., an appropriate API, tool kit, driver
code, operating system, control, standalone or downloadable
software object, etc. which enables applications and services to
take advantage of the techniques provided herein. Thus, embodiments
herein are contemplated from the standpoint of an API (or other
software object), as well as from a software or hardware object
that implements one or more embodiments as described herein. Thus,
various embodiments described herein can have aspects that are
wholly in hardware, partly in hardware and partly in software, as
well as in software.
[0063] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean serving as an
example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the
subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In
addition, any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" is
not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over
other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent
exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary
skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms
"includes," "has," "contains," and other similar words are used,
for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive
in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as an open transition
word without precluding any additional or other elements when
employed in a claim.
[0064] As mentioned, the various techniques described herein may be
implemented in connection with hardware or software or, where
appropriate, with a combination of both. As used herein, the terms
"component," "module," "system" and the like are likewise intended
to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a
combination of hardware and software, software, or software in
execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to
being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an
executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By
way of illustration, both an application running on computer and
the computer can be a component. One or more components may reside
within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be
localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more
computers.
[0065] The aforementioned systems have been described with respect
to interaction between several components. It can be appreciated
that such systems and components can include those components or
specified sub-components, some of the specified components or
sub-components, and/or additional components, and according to
various permutations and combinations of the foregoing.
Sub-components can also be implemented as components
communicatively coupled to other components rather than included
within parent components (hierarchical). Additionally, it can be
noted that one or more components may be combined into a single
component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several
separate sub-components, and that any one or more middle layers,
such as a management layer, may be provided to communicatively
couple to such sub-components in order to provide integrated
functionality. Any components described herein may also interact
with one or more other components not specifically described herein
but generally known by those of skill in the art.
[0066] In view of the example systems described herein,
methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the
described subject matter can also be appreciated with reference to
the flowcharts of the various figures. While for purposes of
simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and
described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and
appreciated that the various embodiments are not limited by the
order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders
and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and
described herein. Where non-sequential, or branched, flow is
illustrated via flowchart, it can be appreciated that various other
branches, flow paths, and orders of the blocks, may be implemented
which achieve the same or a similar result. Moreover, some
illustrated blocks are optional in implementing the methodologies
described hereinafter.
CONCLUSION
[0067] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications
and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments
thereof are shown in the drawings and have been described above in
detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no
intention to limit the invention to the specific forms disclosed,
but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications,
alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the
spirit and scope of the invention.
[0068] In addition to the various embodiments described herein, it
is to be understood that other similar embodiments can be used or
modifications and additions can be made to the described
embodiment(s) for performing the same or equivalent function of the
corresponding embodiment(s) without deviating therefrom. Still
further, multiple processing chips or multiple devices can share
the performance of one or more functions described herein, and
similarly, storage can be effected across a plurality of devices.
Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited to any single
embodiment, but rather is to be construed in breadth, spirit and
scope in accordance with the appended claims.
* * * * *